Oh, one other short thing. I've been working from home more often, and Dottie is a giant pain. I've tried a bunch of different things, but today I decided I'm just going to ignore her barking/whining completely. Not put her on a down-stay, or wait for her to be quiet and throw treats at her, just totally ignore her. Well, actually, I'm considering giving her some treats when she does something constructive with her boredom like chew on a bone or something. At least that's something concrete I can reward. I feel like when I give her treats/attention for going to sleep I'm ruining the calm, like I'm telling her not to calm down but to keep paying attention to me in case I pay off. I can't decide.
I just get the overwhelming feeling like she's playing me like a slot machine. Smarty pants.
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have you tried pretending that Dottie is invisible and the only time you acknowledge her is when she does calm things...her paycheck for that is your attention (your quiet attention, no overly excited otherwise it just ramps them up) or a life reward like going out to play frisbee. no treats.
ReplyDeleteif she gets bossy and you can't ignore her, you can walk out of the room and leave her in the room by herself. then open the door a touch when she's quiet and then ask her for a sit/down/watch/ give paw...something easy she'll do automatically so then she EARNS you back when she does something for you. NO TREATS, not too much HOOPLA...she earns your presence and needs to be in a calm state otherwise she loses you again. door closes no big huff about it, just close the door.
sometimes turning things upside down for them allows them the time and space to rework their game plan.
normally it only take 3-5days of being quiet and either ignoring or leaving when she is being a pain...there is always frustration at first...a behaviour before it's extinquished sometimes becomes more intense but in the end it does normally extinquish itself...if it doesn't work...then they'll move on to what does.
Have you tried something like that?